Analogue and Digital Fellowship - Post Event Write Up

EXCELLENT !!! That sums up the evening yesterday. 65 attendees all together...
Full write up to come.... pictures first...

Looking forward to the write up

DrWho,
Gan spoke highly of you. We missed you there.

CH wrote:DrWho,
Gan spoke highly of you. We missed you there.

Yes...That I can vouch for...

CH....aisey...how come no one actually itnroduce themself as a forumer here during the event....
Maybe want to remain anonimous....

Thank you guys! If I was attending the function, I would have suggested at Hifi4Sale forum that we book a table or two for us to actually meet each other face to face.

Elhefe,
We were the noisiest table .... if you want to know. hehe

The one at the back with sflam and frank voon?

Just had all the 6 speakers, for that function, over to my home to audition my system. It is a honour to host them.

I am sure it was....especially with the witty Khun Vattana....chirpy fellow from Tombo Audio..

Wednesday, 6th March: I arrived at about 645 pm....only because I went to the WRONG hotel hahahaha. I dont know why but I thought it was in Saujana Subang. Only to realise when I walked into the lobby and the reception went blur when I asked about the event. The rushed into the Subang traffic to get to the Holiday Villa.

Walked into the venue, there was already so many people. The only familiar face to me was Jo Ki. Then Kuan Yew Nam the organiser greeted me and showed me the registration table. Got meself registered and received the Kef 50th Anniversary pen and the Audiphile CD (forgot the title). From the name list, there was about 65 attendees.Then more familiar faces came in, James Tan of AV Designs and Felix. After the usual meet and greet, at 7 pm, announcement was made to kick off the event.

Mr. Kuan gave the opening speech thanking everyone for their attendance and support also all the hifi companies which provided the gifts for the lucky draws. Followed by the event facilitator Jo Ki presenting the profile of the 6 speakers for the event and also the guideline for the night. Each speaker is given 15 mins.

Jo Ki also slotted in a surprise talk by Mr. Kuan himself.



Kuan briefly explained the importance of 3 basic elements in getting good sound quality from CAS.

1. Good quality cable is mandatory. Even better to take SATA cable between the hard disk and motherboard out of the equation and replace it with a microSSD. It will allow wider bandwith and faster data transfer.
2. Store songs on the RAM and not the Hard Disk and avoid using virtual memory.
3. OS setting to fine tune the system controlling the main items; DEMON, Processes and Services to only handle music and avoid multitasking.

1. Dr. Paris Ng (The Digital Playback)



The Dr. emphasized on why he went into CAS. Mainly for convenience and portability. Setting up playlist is one of the main feature of CAS that he likes so that he can do without switching between CDs. One important statement from the Doc was that with digital playback, for the first time we can hear the same resolution with the recording resolution.....no more degrading ....on a newer recording and the analogue transfer through DSD or HR PCM! 128 times from cds - no more of downsampling through CAS.

2. Mr. Danon Han (An Audio Analogue Perspective)



He basically brought us back in time where how a simple RM1000 Rega TT of his friend, plugged into his flagship Mark Levinson set up, and soon after that he was converted into the black disc curse. Eversince then, he never turn back (of course at that time, he did not admit to his friend that the Rega TT basically gave a better sonic performance compared to his CD Transport and DAC).

3. Mr. Vattana Prasertnasung (A Hobbyist Turn Owner of An Audio Company)



This to me was the highlight of the night. His wittiness and chirpy character made me feel how passionate he was about music and hifi. His famous line is 'I Like To Play With My Hands' referring to his continous DIY experience in producing speakers and cables. When he was a student, he was saving money for 3 years to buy his dream Canton speakers in which he went to the hifi shop almost every other day. The speaker cost 32M baht...in which after 3 years he only gad 28M. But the hifi shop owner sold him the speakers for 28 M baht but told him never to come to his shop again hahahaha. He had 2 failed companies (Audio Project and Acoustic System Design) before launching his 3rd and current successful company Tombo Audio which is famous for his Kevlar design power cable.

4. Mr. Wijit Boonchoo (The Way Thai Audiophiles Listen to Music)



Mr. Wijit is no stranger in Thailand AV industry and journalism world. He currently writes for several Thai magazine and also a TV channel (Mango TV I think). This is the best part where in the true Fellowship spirit, language was not a barrier at all. Mr. Wijit did his talk in Thai and had a translator but that did not hinder the attendees interest in listening to him. His most valuable advice was: Regardless the price of your system, if cannot deliver realistic sound, then it is a failed system.

5. Mr. Gan Hock Ho (How a Veteran Audiophile keeps the hobby going)



Mr. Gan here...was definitely the funniest hifi connoisseur I have ever met. His 'sexual innuendos' hifi terms made attendees laughed their butts off. Some of the terms were in Chinese but I had James Tan beside me translating them hehehehe. Gan remembered his teaching days with a salary of RM585/month,,,How to play hifi? He also thanked various people like Jo Ki, Kuan, Peter Leong, Ben Tan, Frankie Voon (for his famous Frank Power Bank) and Dr. Who from hifi4sale forum.

6. Mr. TK Han (Development and Trend of Hifi Industry)



Last but not least, Mr. TK Han shared his views on the nearby future of hifi.

- Price will continue to increase
- Knowledge of audiophile will be further elevated
- CAS...the heart of hifi shows
- higher spec DACS even up 768 kHz...decoding DSD, DXD
- Vinyls will with stand the test of time
- Digital amplifier will continue be developed and loved

There were several lucky draws were done inbetween the speakers and Mr. Song Soon Onn was another jovial character that made the night more fun.

Yours truly was also among the lucky ones to have won something. A Boston Acoustics iDS2 iPod dock speaker system from CMY.....wooohooo thanks.



The last part was a Q&A session ....where the 6 speakers gave their last words and wisdom to about 5 questions from the floor. Sorry all....was already nearly 11 pm...and my tummy was full with the nasi minyak, ayam masak merah, sambal udang, roasted duck, pengat pisang, fruit, rojak and coffee. So stopped jotting down stuff heheheh.

Overall.....SUPERB, EXCELLENT, PLEASE DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!

Congrats to Mr. Kuan and his team for pulling a very successful event.

Great stuff...hope to be able to make it for the next Fellowship.